BULGARIA AWARDS CECILIA ATTIAS
The former first lady of France, Cecilia Attias (formerly Sarcozy), was awarded the ‘Honorary Citizen of Sofia’ title by the Mayor of Sofia city, Yordanka Fandakova on Thursday, March 27. This is a recognition of her contribution 7 years ago for the...
The former first lady of France, Cecilia Attias (formerly Sarcozy), was awarded the ‘Honorary Citizen of Sofia’ title by the Mayor of Sofia city, Yordanka Fandakova on Thursday, March 27. This is a recognition of her contribution 7 years ago for the release the 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who were sentenced to death and imprisoned in Lybia.
Today the 5 nurses expressed again their gratitude to Ms. Attias in person.
Kristiana Vulcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Snezhana Dimitrova, and the Palestinian doctor, Ashraf al-Haiui, spent eight years in prison in Lybia for allegedly infecting over 400 children with HIV in 1998 at the Benghazi hospital.
They were arrested in 1999 and kept by Gaddafi’s regime in custody in Lybia. They were sentenced to death in 2004 and then in 2006, Lybia’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentences. Later Lybia’s Supreme Judiciary Council commuted their death sentences in favour of life in prison.
Ms. Attias’ efforts were part of intense international pressure that resulted in the return of the six medical workers to Bulgaria.
